The Seraphina family estate was vast and heavily guarded. But to its rightful mistress, all its defenses were merely for show. She knew the blind spots of the security cameras better than anyone. She knew which section of the garden wall had the thickest ivy for climbing, and she remembered the old, faulty keypad on the greenhouse side door that had a one-in-a-million chance of malfunctioning.
Tonight, it seemed Lady Luck was still on her side.
She moved like an elegant, silent cat, melting into the estate’s shadows. She slipped past all the patrolling guards and expertly keyed in a long-obsolete code at the side door. The lock clicked softly. It was open.
The greenhouse was warm and humid, filled with the rich fragrance of blooming flowers. It had once been her favorite place, a sanctuary where she had sketched countless designs. Now, the familiar scent made her stomach churn.
She didn't linger. She passed through the greenhouse and entered the west wing of the main house. This was the guest area, seldom used, making it the perfect hiding place. She chose the most remote room and slipped inside.
Everything in the room was pristine, a testament to the family’s well-trained staff. Seraphina locked the door from the inside and leaned against it, the tension coiling in her gut finally loosening its grip. She walked into the bathroom and stared at the pathetic creature in the mirror, a stranger to her own eyes.
A pale face, chapped lips, hollow eyes, and on her neck and arms, the unmissable, mottled tapestry of purple and blue bruises.
This was her. Seraphina. An avenger who had crawled back from hell.
She turned on the faucet and splashed icy water on her face, again and again, as if trying to wash away the stain of her humiliation. But some things, once carved into you, could never be erased.
After a quick wash, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion hit her. She didn't have the strength for anything else. She collapsed onto the large, soft bed and fell into a deep, heavy sleep, devoid of nightmares, filled only with an endless, consuming darkness.
She awoke sometime later to the sound of voices from downstairs, hushed but still audible.
It was Liliana and Richard.
Seraphina's heart leaped into her throat. She crept silently to the door, pressing her ear against the cool, solid wood.
"...I've already handled Father's side," Liliana was saying, her voice laced with a smug, self-congratulatory tone. "I just told them that Sister has been emotionally unstable lately, probably a case of pre-wedding jitters, and that she ran off to clear her head. They're worried, of course, but for now, they believe me."
"Well done, Lily," Richard's voice was filled with an undisguised affection. "And the men who took care of her? Have they been paid? Are their tracks clean?"
"Don't worry, Brother Richard. They're mercenaries who work for cash. They took the money and are long gone. Even if the police find that van, they'll never trace it back to us. As far as anyone is concerned, Seraphina simply ran away from home."
Seraphina's blood ran cold, inch by inch.
She listened. She listened to the two people she had once loved and trusted most in the world discuss her disposal as if she were a piece of merchandise, their voices light and casual as they plotted her ruin and the usurpation of her life.
Then she heard Richard again. "Still, we can't have her 'missing' forever. There's already talk on the board of directors. We need to find a way to push you into the spotlight, legitimately."
"I have an idea," Liliana's voice turned venomous. "We can wait a little longer, then announce that my sister... had a mental breakdown while she was away. That we've sent her to a private sanitorium abroad to recover. Then, as her only sister, it would seem perfectly reasonable for me to temporarily take over her shares and position in the company."
"A mental breakdown?" Richard sounded hesitant. "Isn't that a bit..."
"Brother Richard, are you going soft on her?" Liliana's tone sharpened. "Have you forgotten how she always looks down on us from her pedestal? She despises us! We have to destroy her completely to be safe! Once I have control of her family's assets, and our two families merge, the entire business world will be ours for the taking!"
There was a pause from downstairs. Seraphina could almost picture the greedy, calculating look on Richard's face.
Finally, he spoke, his voice firm with decision. "Alright. We'll do it your way. Lily, you're a treasure. So smart, so thoughtful."
The words were followed by the sickening sounds of kissing and flirtatious murmurs.
Seraphina slowly straightened up, stepping away from the door. She walked to the window and stared out at the dark night, her face a blank mask. But in the silence of her eyes, a storm was gathering.
A mental breakdown? Sent to a sanitorium? Steal her shares?
Good. That's very good.
She had been wondering where to begin her revenge. Now, they had personally handed her the roadmap.
For the next few days, Seraphina lived like a true ghost in the grand estate. She used her intimate knowledge of the house to avoid everyone, sneaking into the kitchen for food late at night and using the home's internal network to silently monitor the outside world.
She saw the news. Her family and Richard's had issued a joint statement, claiming she needed to rest indefinitely due to "personal health reasons," and that the engagement was postponed.
She saw Liliana, wearing her clothes and her jewelry, appearing more and more in public as her "representative," her face a perfect mask of sorrow and concern for her older sister, winning the sympathy and praise of countless people.
And Richard was always by Liliana's side, playing the part of the devoted man, abandoned by his fiancée but still dutifully taking care of his "sister-in-law."
They were such brilliant actors. So brilliant, Seraphina almost wanted to applaud.
She watched it all with cold detachment, her heart as still as a frozen lake. She was like a patient leopardess, sharpening her claws in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
But her body was beginning to betray her with strange, uncontrollable symptoms.
She started sleeping excessively, yet always felt exhausted. Her sense of smell became unnervingly sensitive; the slightest hint of oil or grease would send her stomach roiling.
At first, she dismissed it as post-traumatic stress. But one morning, as she rushed to the bathroom, retching from another wave of violent nausea, a terrifying thought, so cold it seemed to freeze her blood, shot through her mind without warning.
Her period was almost two weeks late.
Impossible... It's absolutely impossible...
The color drained from Seraphina's face. She trembled, refusing to let the thought take root.
But it was like a malignant vine, wrapping itself tightly around her heart, squeezing until she couldn't breathe.
She had to know.
She couldn't lie to herself any longer.
Late that night, she disguised herself as a cleaner, wearing a mask and a hat, and slipped out of the estate. She took a taxi to a 24-hour pharmacy downtown and bought several pregnancy tests from different brands.
Back in her temporary sanctuary, she locked the door. Her hands shook so violently she could barely hold the small plastic stick.
The few minutes of waiting felt longer than a century.
Seraphina stared at the small window on the test, her heart hammering against her ribs as if trying to escape her chest.
The seconds ticked by.
And then, in the small white window, a second, clear, irrefutable pink line slowly, cruelly, began to appear.
Two lines.
Positive.
She was pregnant.
CRASH.
Seraphina's entire world, for the second time, completely shattered.
She stumbled backward, her back hitting the cold wall as she slid to the floor. The pregnancy test fell from her hand, landing silently on the plush carpet, yet the impact felt like a sledgehammer blow to her heart.
There was a child inside her.
A child conceived on that humiliating night of her abduction and violation, a child forced upon her by a stranger whose face she didn't even know.
This child was a continuation of her nightmare, a brand of her shame!
A wave of immense despair and disgust washed over her, making her want to be sick. What could she do? Get rid of it? That was the most logical choice. An avenger should have no weaknesses, no attachments.
But...
Her hand, as if with a will of its own, gently came to rest on her still-flat abdomen.
Inside her, a tiny life was growing. An innocent life, connected to her by blood.
After being betrayed by the entire world, pushed into hell by her lover and her family, the arrival of this child felt like fate's cruelest joke. And yet... it was also the only real connection she had left in this wasteland of her life.
It was hers.
It belonged only to her.
Tears, once again, began to fall. But this time, they were not for herself. They were for this tiny, innocent life, a life that should never have been, but had stubbornly taken root inside her.
She cried for a long time, until her tears ran dry, until the sharp pain in her heart faded into a numb, desolate plain.
She slowly raised her head and picked up the test from the floor, staring at the two glaring pink lines.
In the dead silence, her eyes, once filled with confusion, pain, and despair, slowly, frighteningly, began to change.
Confusion became resolve.
Pain became coldness.
Despair became... a venomous determination, a will so absolute it could burn the entire world to the ground.
Get rid of it?
No.
She had changed her mind.
Richard. Liliana. Did you think that by pushing me into hell, you could have it all?
You were wrong.
You didn't destroy me. Instead... you gave me the most powerful weapon, the most absolute reason to fight.
This child will not be my weakness.
It will be my armor, my war banner, the clarion call that heralds my revenge.
Seraphina slowly rose to her feet and walked to the mirror. She looked at the woman with the terrifying eyes staring back at her. She raised a hand and gently, lovingly, caressed her own stomach.
"Don't be afraid, my baby," she whispered, her voice a strange, unsettlingly gentle murmur. "Mommy is going to take back everything in this world for you. And for everything they owe us, I will make them repay it in blood, a thousand times over."
A cold, brilliant smile bloomed on her lips.
It was the smile of an avenging fury, returned from hell, who had finally set her sights on the world she was about to destroy.